What is the best way to examine the small intestine?

The human abdomen has a densely packed digestive system, including the large intestine, small intestine, and various intestines and stomachs, which are very important to the human body. The small intestine of many people is prone to disease, and symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal distension, and abdominal pain may occur. The examination of the small intestine is very important and needs to be performed through angiography, imaging, endoscopy and other methods, so as to diagnose the current condition of the small intestine disease.

We all know that the human digestive tract is divided into the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, small intestine, colon and rectum. Some people who have poor digestion basically go for a gastrointestinal check-up. However, they don’t know that if they have poor digestion, they should actually do a small intestinal digestive function test. So what is a small intestinal digestive function test? How to check small intestine digestive function?

What is a small intestinal digestive function test?

Small intestine examination has not been fully recognized by people for many years, mainly because there are not many means to examine the human small intestine. The small intestine is the longest organ in the human digestive tract, measuring 5 to 7 meters in length in an adult, and is the main place for food digestion and absorption. At the same time, it also has endocrine and immune defense functions and is one of the important organs of the human body. The small intestine has a tortuous course and the intestinal tubes overlap. In addition, the onset is insidious, the symptoms are not specific, and the lesions are deep and not fixed. Therefore, the diagnosis of small intestinal diseases is still a difficult point.

However, due to its special anatomical position, far away from the mouth and anus, its long length, and its free position in the abdominal cavity and bound by the mesentery into multiple complex intestinal loops, it becomes the most difficult part of the entire gastrointestinal tract to examine. In the past, the sensitivity and specificity of the examination methods were low, so small intestinal diseases were difficult to diagnose.

Small intestinal examination methods include small intestinal barium angiography, radionuclide imaging, angiography, capsule endoscopy, double-balloon enteroscopy and CT simulation endoscopy. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. Comprehensive and rational use can effectively diagnose small intestinal diseases.

Methods for testing small intestinal digestive function

1. Barium angiography of the small intestine

Small intestinal barium angiography can show the location and extent of small intestinal diseases, but the positive rate is low. Double contrast barium enema, especially double contrast barium enema with intubation, increases the diagnostic rate of small intestinal hemorrhagic lesions by 10% to 25%. Barium enterography is rarely diagnostic of vascular lesions.

2. Radionuclide imaging

Radionuclide imaging is a non-invasive examination mainly used to locate small intestinal bleeding. Its sensitivity is higher than that of angiography. The positive rate for diagnosing active small intestinal bleeding is 40% to 50%, but false positives may occur sometimes.

What is the small intestinal digestive function test? How to check the small intestinal digestive function? What are the methods for checking the small intestinal digestive function?

3. Angiography

Angiography is the examination of choice for small intestinal diseases, especially gastrointestinal bleeding. This method is an effective diagnostic and therapeutic approach. As long as contrast agent extravasation is seen, a clear diagnosis can be made and embolization therapy can be performed at the same time. However, this examination is affected by the rate of blood loss and the timing of the examination. To be successful, the contrast agent must be injected into the blood supply artery of the bleeding site during the active bleeding phase.

4. Capsule endoscopy

The advent of capsule endoscopy has brought a revolution in the diagnosis of small intestinal diseases. The capsule endoscope is only the size of a paper clip. During the examination, the patient only needs to swallow the capsule endoscope like swallowing a medicine capsule and wear a data recorder vest. After swallowing the capsule, you can leave the hospital after the doctor confirms that the capsule has entered the small intestine. The entire examination process takes 8 to 10 hours, and the capsule will be discharged from the anus on its own after the examination. Capsule endoscopy has the characteristics of safety, non-invasiveness, and good compliance, but it also has the disadvantage of being unable to perform pathological examinations and endoscopic treatments.